Nokia 8.1 to Go on Sale in India for the First Time Today, via Amazon India

HMD Global launched the Nokia 8.1₹ 26,999 smartphone in India earlier this month, and while pre-orders began the same day at retail outlets and the Nokia website, the sale date was pegged at December 21. The ‘Notify Me’ button was also made live on Amazon, and now the Nokia 8.1 listing on the site says that the sale will be conducted at 1pm IST today, and not tomorrow. The company has decided to begin the sale of the Nokia 8.1 one day early on Amazon India. HMD Global in a statement to Gadgets 360 has revealed the reason for the early sale on Amazon.

The Nokia 8.1 smartphone sale on Amazon India is listed to commence at 1pm IST. The Nokia 8.1 price in India has been set at Rs. 26,999 for its sole 4GB RAM/ 64GB inbuilt storage variant, and it will be available in Blue/ Silver and Iron/ Steel colour variants. Nokia.com/phones is still taking pre-orders of the device, and shipment is listed to begin from December 21 i.e., tomorrow. A 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage variant will be launched in January, the company revealed after the launch.

In a statement to Gadgets 360, Ajay Mehta, Vice President and Country Head, HMD Global India, said, “Nokia 8.1 prebook fulfilment and open sales start is from December 21. Amazon and Nokia.com/phone will start taking orders from today and ship them to ensure deliveries to the consumers happen starting December 21.”

At the time of launch, HMD Global had said that Nokia 8.1 launch offers include up to 1TB of 4G data for Airtel prepaid subscribers on eligible plans starting from Rs. 199, up to 120GB of additional data for Airtel postpaid subscribers on eligible plans starting Rs. 499 alongside a 3-month Netflix subscription and a 1-year Amazon Prime subscription. Those who pre-book the smartphone or select the Notify Me option from Amazon India will get a 6-month screen replacement from Servify, while those buying the smartphone from offline retailers (with Pinelabs terminals) will get 10 percent cashback from HDFC Bank on credit and debit card EMI transactions.

Nokia 8.1 specifications

The Android One dual-SIM (Nano) Nokia 8.1 runs stock Android 9 Pie, and sports a 6.18-inch full-HD+ (1080×2244 pixels) display with a 18.7:9 aspect ratio. The Nokia 8.1 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC clocked up to 2.2GHz, coupled with 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM. There is 64GB of inbuilt storage on the Nokia 8.1, expandable via microSD card (up to 400GB).

The Nokia 8.1 bears a dual rear camera setup with Zeiss optics, with the primary 12-megapixel camera featuring a 1/2.55-inch sensor, 1.4-micron pixels, OIS, EIS, 2PD (dual photodiode) tech, and a dual-LED flash. The secondary 13-megapixel fixed-focus lens is meant for depth sensing. At the front, the Nokia 8.1 bears a 20-megapixel fixed focus lens with 0.9-micron pixels, and 4-in-1 pixel tech for better low-light photography. The company is touting its Bothie feature, which allows both the front and rear camera to be used simultaneously, as well as its Pro Camera UI, with several manual camera options.

Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, VoWiFi, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, FM radio, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and USB Type-C port. The Nokia 8.1 bears an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, digital compass, gyroscope, and proximity sensor. It features a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel. The Nokia 8.1 runs on a 3,500mAh battery that is rated to deliver up to 22 hours of talk time, 24 days of standby time, and up to 11 hours of video playback. The company is also touting the presence of 18W fast charging. It measures 154.8×75.76×7.97mm, and weighs in at 178 grams.